Most parents rely on pacifiers and soothers for comforting an infant from many difficulties associated with babies' life. Pacifiers are often used to lengthen the span between meals, to silence an infant in need of his mother's presence, or for calming teething pains. Once a baby has learned to take objects to his mouth, pacifiers becomes invaluable possessions, and normally remain as such until the infant reach the age of one year or so.
At night, most parents take the pacifier away from the baby to prevent loosing the nipple amongst the crib's sheets and blankets. Although it is relatively easy to put the nipple away once the child is asleep, it is a known fact that babies are earlier than their parents to wake up in the morning, and to claim restitution. Consequently, most parents remember having seen their baby at early morning, standing in his crib, gesticulating and stretching over the side bar trying to grasp his pacifier on a nearby drawer chest, or pointing at the pacifier and crying in despair for someone to give it to him.
Numerous articles have been developed to retain a pacifier within reach of a child. Several prior art items propose a straplike retainer for looping around the infant's neck or arm at one end, and for attachment to a pacifier at the other end.
Other prior art articles propose similar straplike retainers which have clamps for attachment to the infant's upper body garment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,698 issued Feb, 27, 1990 to Huber et al. describes a tethering device comprising an elongated strap, with attachment means at one end for attachment to a baby's pacifier or bottle, and a clamp and a slit at the opposite end for detachable attachment to the infant's clothing.
Another example of a straplike retainer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,157 issued Feb. 5, 1991 to Roberts et al. This patent describes a flexible string having at one end a plastic clip for attachment to the infant's clothing, and a loop at the other end for retaining a baby soother.
Although the articles described in the prior art are undoubtedly very useful during daytime activities, they are not particularly suitable for use during the child's sleep. The strap or string may become entangled around the baby's limbs or neck, under his head or face, or around a crib's bar, and cause thereby much discomfort to the infant. Likewise, the pacifier may end up under the baby's body, and not be found when wanted. For these reasons straplike retainers for pacifiers and soothers for attachment to the baby's clothing are not appropriate for using in a baby crib.